( ar, صلاة الجنازة) is the Islamic funeral

prayer Prayer is an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with an object of worship through deliberate communication. In the narrow sense, the term refers to an act of supplication or intercession directed towards a deity or a deified ...

; a part of the Islamic funeral ritual. The prayer is performed in congregation to seek pardon for the deceased and all dead

Muslims Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

. The is a collective obligation upon Muslims () i.e., if some Muslims take the responsibility of doing it, the obligation is fulfilled, but if no-one fulfils it, then all Muslims will be accountable. Performing the funeral prayer when the body is not present is generally not permitted in the

Hanafi The Hanafi school ( ar, حَنَفِية, translit=Ḥanafiyah; also called Hanafite in English), Hanafism, or the Hanafi fiqh, is the oldest and one of the four traditional major Sunni schools ( maddhab) of Islamic Law (Fiqh). It is named a ...

and

Maliki The ( ar, مَالِكِي) school is one of the four major schools of Islamic jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. It was founded by Malik ibn Anas in the 8th century. The Maliki school of jurisprudence relies on the Quran and hadiths as primary ...

s, is permitted in the

Hanbali The Hanbali school ( ar, ٱلْمَذْهَب ٱلْحَنۢبَلِي, al-maḏhab al-ḥanbalī) is one of the four major traditional Sunni schools (''madhahib'') of Islamic jurisprudence. It is named after the Arab scholar Ahmad ibn Hanbal ...

, and is recommended in the

Shafi'i The Shafii ( ar, شَافِعِي, translit=Shāfiʿī, also spelled Shafei) school, also known as Madhhab al-Shāfiʿī, is one of the four major traditional schools of religious law (madhhab) in the Sunnī branch of Islam. It was founded by ...

Description

It is preferable that those praying divide themselves into odd rows with one person as an imam standing alone in front and while facing the

qiblah The qibla ( ar, قِبْلَة, links=no, lit=direction, translit=qiblah) is the direction towards the Kaaba in the Sacred Mosque in Mecca, which is used by Muslims in various religious contexts, particularly the direction of prayer for the s ...

. The body is placed in front of the Imam. If there is more than one body, then these should be put in front of the other. The spoken part of the prayer involves quietly reciting sura '' Al-Fatiha'', then praying for

God In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...

to bestow peace, mercy and blessings on

Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the mo ...

, and finally saying two ''

du'a In Islam, ( ar, دعاء , plural: ' ) is a prayer of invocation, supplication or request, even asking help or assistance from God. Role in Islam Muslims regard this as a profound act of worship. Muhammad is reported to have sa ...

s''. There is no

ruku Rukūʿ ( ar, رُكوع, ) can refer to either of two things in Islam: * The act of belt-low bowing in standardized prayers, where the backbone should be in rest, before straightening up to go for sujud (full earth-low bowing). * A paragr ...

in Janazah prayer. Muhammad and his companions explained how the salat should be: # Having the appropriate ''neeyat'' (intention) in your heart, You say the first

takbir The Takbir ( ar, تَكْبِير, , "magnification f God) is the name for the Arabic phrase ' (, ), meaning "God is the greatest". It is a common Arabic expression, used in various contexts by Muslims and Arabs around the world: in formal Salah ...

while raising your hands, then you fold and hold your hands on your chest in the usual manner, the right hand on the left, then you seek refuge with Allah from the accursed Shayṭan, then you utter '' Bismillah'' and recite ''Al-Fatiha (with regard to Hanafis, they only recite the Thana or Sana - an optional du'aa or supplication usually said in all of the 5 daily prayers)'' # Then you say Takbir (raising of the hands is optional) and '' Durood-i Ibrahimi.'' # Then you say the third Takbir (raising of the hands is optional) and make

for the deceased. ::4. Then a fourth Takbir (again, raising the hands is optional) is recited, followed by a short pause, then a final ''

taslim ''Taslim'' () is the concluding portion of the Muslim prayer (''salat''), where one recites ''As-salāmu ʿalaikum wa-raḥmatu-llah'' ("Peace and blessings of God be unto you") once while facing the right, and once while facing the left. See ...

'' to the right, saying "'' Assalaamu ‘Alaykum Warahmatullah''" ("Peace and mercy of

be unto you"). Shafi'is and Malikis say 1 salam is obligatory and 2 is optional while Hanafis says you have to give 2 salams and Hanbalis says you have to give 1 salam.

Exceptions

According to an authentic

hadith Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approva ...

, Muhammad did not say the burial prayers of a person who committed suicide;

References

External links

After Death Rituals
{{Authority control Death customs Salah Salah terminology